This invention relates in general to a vehicle wheel and, in particular, to an improved method for producing a full face fabricated wheel.
Conventional fabricated wheels are typically of a two-piece construction and include an inner disc and an outer rim. The disc includes a centrally located wheel mounting surface provided with a center pilot hole and a plurality of lug receiving holes for mounting the wheel to an axle of the vehicle. The rim includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, an axially extending well, an outboard tire bead seat, and an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange. In both types of constructions, the disc and the rim are secured together during a welding operation.
Styled fabricated wheels have recently become popular and one type of a styled wheel is a full face wheel. In a full face type wheel, the disc includes an outer annular portion which defines at least a portion of an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the wheel. The rim includes an inboard tire bead seat retaining flange, an inboard tire bead seat, a generally axially extending well, and an outboard tire bead seat. In some instances, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim and the outer annular portion of the disc cooperate to form the outboard tire 0 bead seat retaining flange of the full face wheel. In both types of construction, the outboard tire bead seat of the rim is positioned adjacent the outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the disc, and a weld is applied to secure the rim and the disc together.
A typical sequence of steps which can be used to produce a full face fabricated wheel includes the steps of: (a) providing a flat sheet of suitable material, such as aluminum or steel; (b) forming the sheet into a generally flat circular disc blank; (c) initially stamping the blank to form a partially-shaped disc; (d) progressively stamping the partially-shaped disc during a plurality of intermediate stamping operations to produce a disc having a predetermined shape; (e) final stamping an outer annular portion of the disc to form a bead seat retaining flange thereon which defines an outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the finish full face wheel; (f) machining an outer edge of the outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the disc; and (g) securing the disc to a preformed rim to produce the finish full face fabricated wheel.
As a result of forming the full face wheel in this manner, the intermediate stamping operations produce a disc having a generally constant material thickness as the disc is progressively shaped. A slight thinning of the material occurs only at those portions of the disc where the curvature changes and forms a radius. Thus, the generally constant thickness of the disc results in a disc having extra material at places where it is not required for strength purposes. In addition, the outer end of the outboard tire bead seat retaining flange of the disc must be machined to remove excessive material therefrom, in order to provide an end which is thin enough to allow a wheel balancing weight to be secured thereon.
It is known that a flat or a preformed disc blank can be tapered by a flow spinning process to produce a disc for a conventional or a combination wheel as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,591 to Schroder et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,191 to Albertson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,195,491 to Bulgrin et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,033 to Cox.